


courage equal to desire

by wheredwellthe_brave_atheart



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 18:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1789132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheredwellthe_brave_atheart/pseuds/wheredwellthe_brave_atheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sometimes I forget," Edmund says quietly, "to respond to 'Edmund'.  Sometimes it's hard, without the titles first." </p><p>Fifty prompts turned into snapshots of life throughout the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	courage equal to desire

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Chronicles of Narnia world, created by C.S.Lewis. I do not claim ownership over the word or any characters used. I am not profiting in any way from this work, it is my own invention and for entertainment only, and it is not purported to be a part of C.S. Lewis’s official story line. 
> 
> These shorts jump about in time and place, there is no linear timeline. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Title from Yeats's "No Second Troy".

-Comfort-  
Generally when Polly visits they try to avoid the Wardrobe room, but in the wake of recent events it provides a certain comfort. 

-Kiss-  
Peter kisses Lucy's forehead after another sleepless night spent tending to the wounded in their camp. 

-Soft-  
Edmund watches as his sister pins up her long hair for the evening. Her fingers seem to remember exactly what to do, even if she can't (or won't) recall where she learned the skill. 

-Pain-  
Jill hates the grief in Eustace's eyes as he takes in the sight of his friend turned old and sad before him. She is tempted to hate Aslan for forcing that torment on him. But she can't. She doesn't know his story. 

-Potatoes-  
"Okay," Peter admits, "I did miss these."  
The others are too busy eating the chips to reply. 

-Rain-  
"The rain is weaker here than in Narnia," Lucy remarked, and Susan replied "So is the tea", which caused Peter to grin and add "And the wine", and they carried on like this until Edmund laughed because "So is the conversation," and they moved on to other topics. 

-Chocolate-  
"I wonder what would happen if we came back to Eustace's with chocolate croissants instead of groceries?" Edmund postulated, practically salivating outside the bakery window. 

"You know I'd be all for that, Ed," Lucy said matter-of-factly. "And so I'll be absolutely no help talking you out of this enterprise." 

-Happiness-  
When school had finally let out for the summer holidays, Peter and Edmund had snuck out early - they rode the 11:00 train up to Finchley and were waiting outside Susan and Lucy's school in time for them to get out. The girls had run laughing down the front steps to greet them.  
It was a much-needed reunion. 

-Telephone-  
Lucy was examining the Professor's telephone set perplexedly. "Did we really ever use these things?" she asked, turning to Peter. "It seems awfully complicated."

-Ears-  
Her children had taken to whispering to each other when they thought she couldn't hear them.

-Name-  
"Sometimes I forget," Edmund says quietly, "to respond to 'Edmund'. Sometimes it's hard, without the titles first." 

-Sensual-  
Even Peridan admitted to enjoying the tarkeena's style of dress, and Susan was well aware of the lengths it took to attract his attention. 

-Death-  
"It will be awful," Susan began, "if we die here. We won't have the proper rites."  
"We'll all make sure of it," Lucy assures her. "We'll do the best we can." 

-Sex-  
The Harvest Festival was always their favourite. It stretched for weeks at the very end of summer, and, after they all reached a certain age, the events would always leave them feeling quite sore, but very content. 

-Touch-  
One didn't race through the tall grass in England, or splash into the sea, or run their hands over silken cloth, or grasp hands or swords or bows or caress a lion's mane. 

-Weakness-  
His mind remembered what to do, but his muscles had forgotten. He and Ed fenced all summer to find some purchase. Susan and Lucy convinced the Professor to dust off a child's archery set from the attic. 

-Tears-  
Eustace made sure never to run out of peppermint humbugs. 

-Speed-  
The Owl's feathers cut through the air as swiftly as the Dawn Treader had cut trough the sea, and Eustace wished his cousins were here to experience it. But he recalled their stories of riding Griffins and wondered whether the two were anything alike. 

-Wind-  
"Wake up, Edmund." Susan hovered over his hammock, smiling. "There's a fine breeze and we're nearing the port. We'll be in Tashbaan before you're out of bed, brother!" 

-Freedom-  
"Well, I'm still getting used to all this," Cor explains to his brother. 

-Life-  
"Well, it's a pretty rotten part of life," Peter snaps at Susan. 

-Jealousy-  
"I just don't see what you're making such a fuss about," Eustace said, scowling. 

Jill mussed his hair, grinning. "Oh come on, Scrubb. They're Kings and Queens of Narnia! It's intimidating."

"You're a Lady of Narnia. I'm a Lord," he replied, grumpily smoothing his hair. 

"Oh, that doesn't count," Jill said, waving her hand dismissively. "I was there for fifteen days, they ruled for fifteen years." 

Eustace found he had to concede on that point just a bit. 

-Hands-  
"Might I interrupt?" Edmund puts a firm hand on Lord Dal's shoulder, steering him away from Susan. 

"Thank-you," Susan enthuses, as Edmund bows to her. "He was awfully keen on the subject of a marriage union between Narnia and Galma."

Edmund smirks as they step together for the next dance. "Well, from the looks of him, it could be a very short marriage indeed."

Susan tilts her head back and laughs, as Edmund envelopes her smaller hand with his. 

-Taste-  
They didn't have the heart to tell their mother why they didn't want Turkish Delight anymore. 

-Devotion-  
"Peter," Lucy explained, "you are our brother and our King, and that means we would follow you into Aslan's Country, but it also means we have the right to tell you when you're being a stubborn fool, so listen to us now."

-Forever-  
The ride along the beaches beside Cair Paravel, and devote the rest of the day to swimming, dancing, and building a magnificent bonfire. 

"I am very content," Peter says sleepily as they lie in the sand. "No responsibilities weighing on me at the moment. Be nice if we could stay here awhile longer."

"I'll allow it," murmurs Susan in jest, and the others lapse into snorts of laughter. 

-Blood-  
"It's just hard," Peter explains, "to see him this way, and to have experienced exactly what he's been through and more, and not be able to help him. Talk to him at all. He's been away so long, and now we can't even let him or Mum know of who we really are."

"Well, I dare say you'll find other ways of communicating," says the Professor, nodding. 

-Sickness-  
Cor burst through the entrance hall, still in his riding clothes, shaking with fear. "Please, Lucy, come quick, it's Aravis, she's not well, the baby-"

Lucy had already risen, reaching for her cordial, and Susan was strapping on her knives for travel. 

-Melody-  
The bars for the RAF have quite lively bands, but Susan never dances with Peter anymore. 

-Star-  
"Sometimes I wonder how we've managed at all," Edmund says to Eustace as they lie on the grass with Lucy, looking up at the Cambridge sky. 

-Home-  
"Su, must you leave without us?" Lucy fell dramatically on top of Susan's empty suitcase. "After all, you'll be terribly bored in America while we, of course, will be living extravagantly with the great Sir Eustace Clarence Scrubb."

Susan, teasing back, countered with; "Alas, this is true, Lucy, but Mother and Father require my services. I'm afraid I shall just have to suffer alone." 

They giggled and Susan rolled Lucy over, reaching for a dress. 

-Confusion-  
"Wait, you couldn't possibly be claiming you're both actually almost thirty? How-"

Edmund looked over his shoulder as he parried Caspian's blade. "Actually, Eustace, it's hard to determine. We're not sure how time here corresponds to time in England." 

"You see," Lucy called from the upper deck,"the last time we came back it had been one thousand and thirty-five years, but this time it's been only three. So we could be considered thousands of years old!" she laughed.

Eustace started counting. 

-Fear-  
Peter had swallowed a thick wad of fear the first time he had to stay behind as Edmund rode off with Oreius after word of harpies along the southern edge of the Western Woods. 

-Lightning/Thunder-  
The ship groaned and heaved under the thrash of the sea. 

Eustace didn't think he'd be taking up the profession of sailor any time soon. 

-Bonds-  
"Sod it- fetch Marius and ask if we have any sort of bankers left," Peter rubbed his eyes blearily. "We need some expertise."

-Market-  
"Su, you're brilliant," Peter kisses her cheek hurriedly.  
"I know," she replies, shrugging. 

-Technology-  
This kind of war was very different. 

-Gift-  
"Thought I'd forgotten about you, eh?" Father Christmas laughed, handing Edmund a scroll which later proved to be the lost records of Narnia's court systems. 

-Smile-  
Caspian always said his wife's smile was brighter than any star. And she'd always swat him and call him a romantic fool - while smiling, of course. 

-Innocence-  
"It's difficult," Lucy confessed to Jill, "Because I was a woman and I fought and grew and learned and loved and now-"

-Completion-  
"So it's just knit one, pearl two, knit one, pearl two-"

"I know," Lucy snarled, yanking out the knots. 

-Clouds-  
The grey pressed down over England. 

-Sky-  
"It's never quite as blue here," Lucy said absentmindedly. 

-Heaven-  
"Of course not!" Aravis exclaims. "Corin teases me over a myriad of things; however, none of which have anything to do with my religion." 

-Hell-  
'I've seen one kind of war,' Peter thought. 'I had almost forgotten that this is another.' 

-Sun-  
On especially bright days, Polly thought of Charn. 

-Moon-  
Lucy loved the nymphs and naiads, Peter studied the military tactics, and Edmund devoured the philosophers; but Susan was drawn to Artemis, the hunter goddess whose symbol was the bow that hung in the night sky. 

-Waves-  
When the boat pitched and rose with the Atlantic Ocean, Susan had to remember not to appear so offended when her parents worried for her being seasick. 

'I have sailed the Eastern Sea a dozen times over!' she longed to shout. 'I have weathered the Splendour Hyaline in storm, I have dived overboard and rescued countless floundering in the depths, I have swum by the shore of my castle for fifteen years, please believe me, please listen, please hear me!'

But she didn't. 

-Hair-  
Their heads felt strange with just their hair atop, and nothing more. 

-Supernova-  
"It is when a Sun burns itself out," the Professor explains.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Reviews would be amazing.


End file.
